Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has made public the circumstances under which he met his wife and life companion, Rebecca, the gracious fair-looking lady who is exceedingly appealing in appearance as well.
“I met my wife when we were both very young. She must have been about 18 or 19. We knew each other and then we went our different ways. And then about 17 or 18 years ago when her father died, I had not been able to go to his funeral. He was one of the senior people that we knew so when it was the tenth anniversary of his death, I decided that I would go; and there she was, looking excellent… And I said to myself, ‘My goodness! It is good to see this girl again’. I don’t know whether I said in me this should be my wife, but I said it is good to see her again. I started seeing her and dating her,” Akufo-Addo told Bola Ray on the Starr Chat show on Starr 103.5 FM, Wednesday.
The politician continued the narration of his love story: “She (Rebecca) had been living in England and working there as a Secretary in a law firm. I went to England a few times, she also came down a few times. Then after about six months of our meeting, we met sometime, I think in July or August of 1996, and by April 1997, we got married. April just gone by, the 12, was the 18th anniversary of our marriage.”
Asked by Bola Ray what type of husband he was, Nana Addo said his wife, Rebecca—daughter of Third Republic’s Speaker of Parliament, Griffiths Randolph, and a potential First Lady—was the best person to answer that question.
“She would be the best person to assess me. But I hope I am a good husband. I have a problem because of the work that I do. I am mostly not around as I should. I am either travelling around the country, I am outside Accra, up country and even when I am in Accra, I am in meetings all day long and sometimes at nights; so the companionship that she should get from me is not there.
“Fortunately for me, she does not complain and she understands this is what she has got herself into. She does not complain. But I know like anybody, I am sure she would appreciate if I was more. So in that side of it, I think I am deficient. But in terms of affection or being considerate, I am fine. I want to thank her very much for her solidarity and support,” Nana Addo explained.
The NPP flagbearer also spoke about music and said Daddy Lumba and Amakye Dede would definitely be in the top category if he were to make a list of his favourite contemporary Ghanaian musicians.
Bola Ray also asked Nana Addo to share a brief experience of nightlife and music in his youthful days.
“You are talking about the era of the Black Beats, the Ramblers who were then the big highlife artistes of the time and they were fun. They used to play at my father’s hotel a lot, Ringway Hotel. Sea View Hotel, Metropole; these were the hot places in Accra when I was growing up and I enjoyed it a lot.
“Those were ‘open air’ places and very different from what came on later with the discotheques and all that. They were doing live bands. That’s why I spoke about the Ramblers, Black Beats, Star Gazers, Globe Masters and all of those people. They were the musicians of our time—very talented. And I am sure that if they were around today, they would be doing so well and making themselves a lot of money. Those days they did not do so well.
“I think live band music is good. It gives you the feeling and quality of the music and is not so much the electronic mixing and people being in a studio and putting pieces together, but the genuine creativity and ability of people. And that is important. Things have developed, things have changed. Every generation has its way of doing things,” Akufo-Addo narrated.
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